Roscoe B. Woodruff

Major General Roscoe Barnett Woodruff (February 9, 1891 – July 24, 1975) was a career United States Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II and served for 38 years. During World War II he commanded divisions and corps in Europe and the Pacific.

A 1915 graduate of United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, he was part of "the class the stars fell on"; Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley were classmates. During World War I he served on the Mexican border and the Western Front with the 2nd Division. After the war he served in the Panama Canal Zone and attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the United States Army War College.

During World War II, he commanded the 77th Infantry Division in the United States and the VII Corps and XIX Corps in England. He then went to the Southwest Pacific Area, where he commanded the 24th Infantry Division in the Battle of Mindoro and the Battle of Mindanao. After the fighting ended, he commanded the I Corps in the Allied occupation of Japan and the First Army and XV Corps in the United States. Early life

Roscoe Barnett Woodruff was born on February 9, 1891, in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the son of Calvin Woodruff, an army officer. and his wife Rhoda Barnett. After attending public schools and the Iowa State University,

Woodruff graduated from the USMA on June 12, 1915, as part of the West Point class of 1915, often referred to as "the class the stars fell on", ranked 56th in his class. Of the 164 graduates that year, 59 (36%) later attained the rank of brigadier general or higher, more than any other class in the history of the academy. The classmates he graduated with included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, James Van Fleet and Joseph T. McNarney, along with John W. Leonard, Joseph M. Swing, Henry Aurand, Stafford LeRoy Irwin, Charles W. Ryder and Leland Hobbs. Woodruff was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Infantry Branch of the United States Army.

World War I After graduation, Woodruff served at Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border with the 9th Infantry. At the time troops were stationed on the border due to the threat from Pancho Villa.

Woodruff's chance at large-scale combat command finally came when he was sent to the Southwest Pacific Area to command Army Garrison Force 248 on Leyte. In November, the commander of the Sixth Army, Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, abruptly gave him command of the 24th Infantry Division in the place of the fired Major General Frederick A. Irving. For this service he was awarded the Commendation Ribbon.

From February 1948 to March 1951, Woodruff was deputy commanding general of the First Army at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. He assumed the role of commanding general from February 1 to March 28, 1949, upon the retirement of General Courtney Hodges, who had commanded the First Army during World War II, He retired from the army, as a major general, on January 31, 1953 after 41 years of active duty.

Later life Woodruff and his wife, Alice Gray Woodruff retired to San Antonio, Texas. He died on July 24, 1975, aged 84. He was buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Dates of rank